


I've Come Home

by hopeyoustay



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Poe Dameron, F/M, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Good Parent Han Solo, Jakku, Like Father Like Son TBH, M/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Poe Dameron Is A Mess, Protective Rey (Star Wars), Sassy Ben Solo, Scavenger Ben Solo, Space Mom Leia Organa, he's trying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 08:42:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22013212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeyoustay/pseuds/hopeyoustay
Summary: Ben Solo was stuck on a wasteland; he had been since he was sixteen years old. Jakku was a good for nothing planet, nothing more than a sandy waste of space in a wide-open galaxy. Not to mention the brat he'd been forced, or so he claims, to take responsibility of when her folks dumped her in the junkyard at nine years old. He had severed his force bond long ago and resigned himself to a never-ending battle of windburn and starvation just to keep himself hidden and safe from those who wanted to use him.That is, until an ex-Stormtrooper and a know-it-all droid came crashing down from the sky, and his pseudo little sister decided to join them for the ride. She drug him along, too, of course.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 37
Kudos: 220





	1. Prologue

He crash-landed.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise; despite his dad's best efforts, he never was a great pilot. Not that he'd had much time to learn, either. Jedi training had started at the ripe young age of seven when he was sent off to his kriffing madman of an uncle. So there he was, trudging through the sand with nothing but singed temple robes on his back and a training lightsaber in hand. He grumbled against the whip of the wind and sand, leaving the smoking pile of heap that was his stolen TIE fighter behind as he sought out shelter. He hadn't even been sure where he was landing when he'd made the decision; he panicked and Snoke's troops were on his tail, so he made sure his signature within the force was done for and dived for the most distant planet in the Inner Rim that he could reach. 

Tearing off the sash that cinched his robes around his waist, he wrapped it around his head like a scarf to keep the sand from his mouth. Squinting his eyes, he tucked his lightsaber into his waistband and struggled up a sandy hill that looked like it led nowhere. Trust him to find the most desolate, miserable planet to ever exist and land there. No lush, tropical forest ripe with fruit and animals. No roaring waterfalls or dense vegetation. Not even snow, or rocky mountains. It had to be sand and harsh heat and _kriffing abandoned_. 

Right as he crested the hill, the sandstorm seemed to part and reveal a small outpost of sorts. Before he could get a better look, a scaly hand gripped him by the neck and tossed him forward. He landed on his ass, scrambling backward with both hands up. He attacker looked to be an Uthuthma, a living nightmare with a beast-like skeletal face filled with jagged teeth. It made a clicking noise at him, taking one threatening step forward.

"I don't know what you're saying." Ben huffed out, choking on the sand dancing around him, "I'm just sixteen, I don't have any valuables, I don't understand-"

Just sixteen. Like that would stop First Order forces...or his own uncle, for that matter.

The Uthuthma didn't speak again, pulling him up with spindly hands and tearing at his clothes. Ben struggled to get away and froze when the lightsaber fell through his pants leg and landed on the scorching sand below. The alien picked it up, hissing at him as he did so.

"Holding out..." He spoke in broken Galactic Basic, gripping the lightsaber tight, "Die." 

Ben's heart dropped straight out of his chest and into his stomach. He rolled backward, darting to his feet and dodging the swiping blows and sharp teeth. He landed a solid kick but the alien was too strong and it backfired sending him to the floor again. Ben choked back any tears filling his eyes; he was too young to die, too strong to escape his uncle and then Snoke just to die on a wasteland like this, too stubborn to give up and take his death laying down. He threw his hands out to catch whatever blow would fall on him but looked up with wide eyes to see the alien struggling against an unseen barrier. He pushed back against that little bit of force control he had remaining and sent the Uthuthma tumbling down.

With trembling hands, he retrieved the fallen lightsaber and activated it, the dim glow of a yellow training saber barely visible in the harsh sunlight, and went to finish the job. He raising it, intending to stab the alien through the chest, but stopped right before he went through with it. He wanted to; wanted to take this being's life, wanted to save his own skin permanently. He didn't. Ben took a few steps back and tucked the saber back into his waistband.

He tasted blood as he approached the largest building in the settlement; a trading post.

"Where am I?" He demanded of the large creature there, a slimy-looking blob of an alien, on to get a large grin in response. 

"Niima Outpost, Jakku." The junk boss had a deep, rumbling voice.

"How do I get out of here?" Ben coughed into his elbow, "I have...family, out there."

If he could even find them after all this. Would they be able to protect him from Snoke? Or would his uncle decide not to take any chances and follow through with his attempted nepoticide?

"You don't get out of here." Was the only response he got as the creature began to lower the window, "Come back with parts or starve. Better start scavenging."

A pit opened up in his stomach as he turned around. The beings around him either eyed him greedily, looking ready to attack or they avoided his gaze, trying to keep attention off themselves. Jakku. Of course, he was on kriffing Jakku. A lawless inner world planet, it would never cross his parents' minds to search for him here. If they searched for him at all. Kidnapped by Snoke's little guard or not, Luke had still tried to kill him. Did his mom and dad know? Had they asked him to do it?

He felt sick to his stomach as he stumbled around the Outpost, wondering how the hell he was supposed to scavenge to survive. Wrapping the sash tighter around his face, he set off to look for anything that might get him dinner. 

* * *

She appeared midday seven months after he arrived. By then he knew the ropes of Jakku; you scavenge, you get under-compensated, and you wake up and do it all again the next day. Just enough to stay alive, but never enough to escape. He was on his way to Unkar Plutt's trading post, various junk parts of his own TIE fighter in hand, when he heard it. A quiet whimpering, the sniffling sounds of a human child hidden behind a stack of crates. An older human female was shooting her annoyed looks as she cleaned parts off grime, and Ben could only stare in shock at the child. She couldn't be over ten, and she definitely wasn't here yesterday. He glanced at the woman again and she only shrugged, looking completely uninterested. Sighing, he approached the girl with raised hands and kneeled in front of her.

"Hi." He began awkwardly, cursing himself when watery eyes turned to him, "Um, I'm Ben...I'm Ben Naberrie. What's, uh, what's your name?"

There was no way he could say Solo. Every person in a thirty-mile radius who knew his father would want him dead or to kidnap him for ransom. Or both. The Skywalker name was infamous, and Organa was too. He had no idea if the First Order had spies here, but he didn't want to find out. Amidala had too many connections to Naboo royalty, but Naberrie was relatively unknown. It gave him...something. Some connection to his past, to his family. His grandmother, betrayed and killed by the man she loved. He'd only heard good things about her, how she was kind and beautiful, loved by her people and the children who she never got to raise. Despite how everything turned out, he still loved his mother. And his father. He'd choke before he admitted it, but it was the truth.

Luke, however...

He turned his attention from the thoughts about family betrayals back to the girl as she blinked up at him before smiling widely. Despite the tears running down her cheeks, she laughed, "Berry is a funny name."

"No, my name is Ben. My family name is _Naberrie_." He corrected her, eyebrow twitching, "And your name?"

"Rey." She looked down at her hands, "I don't...have a family name. I think." 

"How did you get here?" He asked quietly, "Do you know where your parents are?"

I don't, he thought with only _some_ bitterness.

"No." She frowned, tears welling up again, "They'll be back, though. They said they'd be back."

Sure they will. He stood, but paused when the girl stood as well. She was dressed in clothes of heavy fabric, not fit for the climate of Jakku, and they looked to be of a higher quality material. Whoever her parents were, they weren't destitute. So why drop your young child off on a lawless junk world filled with sand and criminals? Unless they didn't want her...or they were trying to protect her. From what he didn't know, but he does know his own mother gave him the same excuse when she shipped him off to his uncle. They were protecting him from his own power, they said. He had a frightening amount of power within the Force and he would hurt people if he didn't learn to master it, they said. It all sounded like bantha-shit excuses to him.

"Berry! Are you leaving?" Her voice was high and reedy, filled with anxiety.

"Yes." He gestured with the hand holding scrap to Unkar Plutt's hut, "I have to get lunch."

"I'll come too." She was at his side in an instant, scrunching up her nose, "The rest of the people here are mean. They didn't even ask my name!"

He sighed but still kept her close as they made their way through the crowd. There were plenty of slave dealers on Jakku, and children who could be raised into obedience for work on farms in the Outer Rim planets were in high demand. He wouldn't take any chances; annoying or not, she was still a child. So he told her to stay close and slid the TIE Fighter parts to Plutt, who grunted before slapping a single quarter ration down on the counter. He ended up giving it to Rey and eating some tumbleweed he found outside his modest tent that was, in reality, a sheet thrown over three wooden sticks. She stuck her nose up at the taste but ate all the same.

He sighed, laying down on the holey blanket that did nothing to stop the sand scraping irritably against his skin. He glanced at Rey, who was curled up on an empty water barrel, using her arms as a pillow as she dozed off. Jakku would become an orphanage at this rate, he thought, if the other scavengers didn't kill them for stew first. A child taking care of another child, what could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My take on Scavenger Ben, only this one has Rey as his basically-little-sister. Hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> *Nepoticide is the murder of your nephew! A little fun fact.


	2. What's in a home?

Ben sighed, regarding the inside of the ship with his usual face of disgust. Half buried in sand in the middle of Starship Graveyard

"Would this work?" Rey turned to him, holding up a rusty metal fixture that was broken off at the edge, creating a sharp and jagged edge.

"Put that down!" Ben nearly yelped, dropping some part of a machine that might fetch a quarter ration into his bag, "You'll cut yourself!"

He reached to grab it but Rey jerked it out of his grasp, "I won't cut myself, I'm not _five_."

"No, you're fourteen and stupid!" He grabbed it from her quickly, "If you hurt yourself, we don't have any bacta patches or first aid."

She groaned, sitting down in a swirl of dust and sand, "This is _awful_."

"Do you want to eat?" He dropped the rusted metal in his bag anyway. Maybe if they got lucky, Unkar Plutt would accidentally slit his wrists on it. 

"No." The girl sighed, "I want to sleep."

He sighed, looking around for anything of value, "We don't have any more rations. We took a day off last week, we don't have any more stockpiled."

"What about a Cacti Wren?" Rey fiddled with some of the screws on the ground, "If we could catch one-"

"You'd be lucky to catch one, luckier still to get enough meat to survive. Besides that, if we-" He trailed off, eyes catching on something imbedded in a metal box overflowing with wires in the center of the floor.

"What? If we what?" She followed his gaze, her eyes lighting up, "Is that-?"

"A heat conductor." Ben breathed, "Six rations, at least, with everything else we have. Twenty-four quarter rations..."

"That'd be enough for a week." Rey brightened instantly, on her feet in a second, "How do we get it?"

" _We_ don't." He corrected, holding his arm out to stop her, "We don't know how stable the ground is. Here, give me that pipe."

She handed him the long piece of white piping that lay discarded on the ground, and he began poking at the sand on the ground.

"Be careful." She piped up from behind him.

He almost rolled his eyes, dusting away at the sand to reveal a rickety, rusted floor. He dropped his bag of parts and the ground and moved forward.

"I don't know if this is a good idea." She chewed on the inside of her cheek, startling when Ben took a step forward anyways, "Hey! You can't lecture me about safety then go and do this."

Ben snorted, continuing to poke at the ground, "Do as I say, not as I do, Sunshine."

She scoffed loudly behind him but said nothing else, so he continued on. It was slow and steady, Rey watching in anticipation as Ben poked at the ground and slid the sand away. He jabbed at the ground again, the pipe knocking years of dirt and sand loose. He pitched forward, stumbling, as the pipe busted through the metal which was particularly thin due to age and rust. He heard Rey gasp behind him, a sharp intake of air, as Ben froze in place, the entire bridge and platform creaking. 

"Come back." Rey's voice had a frightened tinge to it, "It's not worth it. Berry, seriously, no, Ben-!"

He ignored her, taking a deep breath and letting the pipe fall through the hole and he took a small step back and leaped forward. Using his bit of force control left, he glided in the air momentarily before he hit the bridge again, grabbing the railing of the platform right as it crumbled beneath him. He heard Rey scream as he dangled, holding on with one shaking hand. He used his other to pull at the floor of the platform, noticing the other bridges leading to what must've been the main deck were intact. He pulled one knee up and then the other, crawling carefully until all his limbs were secure and no longer suspended in midair. He huffed out huge gusts of air, looking around at all the machinery that lay dormant.

He turned to Rey, flashing a thumbs up. Her lips were pursed, eyes wide, and Ben momentarily worried for her blood pressure.

"How are you gonna get _back across_ , genius?" She yelled across the now bridgeless cavern.

"I'll scavenge the parts over here. When I'm done, I'll take the bridge to the main deck and find a way out from there. You take my bag over there and leave _exactly_ the way we came in and we'll meet up outside the ship. If any Teedo are out there, beat them off with your staff."

She pulled said quarterstaff off her back, held secure by two strips of fabric covering her tunic and pants, and nodded firmly. Ben wiped his sweaty palms off on his beige pants and got to work, carefully removing the heat conductor and any surrounding parts worth anything. He shoved them in his spare sack, turning and heading down one of the bridges. He climbed up to the main deck and went to pop a window out so he could slide down the nose of the ship and land safely in the sand. He paused, looking closely at a dusty helmet discarded haphazardly on the floor. He recognized the shade of yellow.

He blew the dust off it, revealing the yellow Alliance symbol of the Tierfon Yellow Aces. A starfighter squadron, mentioned by his uncle and father in their many war stories. Truly they were the only reason he knew Jakku existed; because it was the stage of the Empire's last major stand against the Alliance, which the Aces fought in. He studied it before tucking it under his arm. Rey would enjoy it.

* * *

She wore the helmet the whole trek back to Niima Outpost. Ben carried both bags slung across his back, trudging through the sand with a scarf pulled around his mouth to keep from inhaling it. Rey didn't seem to care, keeping her scarf tied at her waist and using the helmet's visor to protect her eyes. When they breached the gate, the entered the long line of scavengers looking for their mid-day meal.

Rey played with the nobs on the side of the helmet, "Who do you think she was?"

"Hmm?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

She gestured to the name on the side of the helmet, "Dosmit Ræh."

He just shrugged, "I'm assuming a member of the Aces."

"Haha." She scowled before her expression turned thoughtful, "She was probably a badass. Shame she had to die...well..."

"Here?" Ben asked as they moved forward in the line, "It'll be a cold day in hell before I die on this...Jakkuvian wasteland."

"You're leaving?" She turned urgent eyes to him, "But...when?"

"Not any time soon, that's for sure," Ben muttered.

He didn't have a ship, he didn't have any resources to get a ship, and he didn't even know where his parents were. He didn't know if the Order captured them or if they were dead. Ever since he'd cut himself off from the larger force and hidden his signature, he could no longer feel his mother or uncle. He had no clue what fate had befallen them, or if he would ever see them again. Despite everything...maybe he just wanted to know why. Get answers from his uncle, some form of closure.

That would never happen if he was stuck on Jakku for the rest of his life.

"Good." Rey sighed, "We'll wait for my parents. When they come to get me, they'll get you, too!"

Ben humored her, "A surprise child? Would they even want that?"

"Well, you're not really a kid anymore. Besides, if they take me then they have to take you." She said it firmly, "I wouldn't leave you behind."

The sincere honesty in her voice tripped him up for a moment; he couldn't remember anyone since the friends of his childhood being that sincere. They were all dead now; slaughtered when Snoke attacked the temple. Well, all except one. Poe, despite being six years his senior, had been a good friend when they were boys. He hadn't seen him much when he'd been sent to the temple, and obviously he hadn't seen him at all since. He wondered if he was still alive, if his parents were, if he ever became a New Republic pilot like he'd wanted to. He wondered a lot nowadays, he's found.

He stayed quiet until they moved up to the shack's counter, dumping the parts out. Ben spread them out, picking up the heat conductor. Plutt's eyes immediately narrowed in on it, and Ben hid a smirk.

"Two rations," Plutt grunted.

Ben scoffed, "Along with everything else? Bantha. Shit. The wires are included in that mess, along with a regulator."

Rey suppressed a giggle beside him. He really wasn't a good role model, he thought mournfully. 

"Four." The sentient garbage grunted, and Ben nearly laughed.

"Yeah? Make it eight." Ben smiled sharply.

Rey looked up at him with wide eyes, eight full rations were much higher a pension than anything Unkar Plutt had given out to them before. They'd never had a heat conductor, though, and Ben nearly died for the piece of shit. He'd be damned if he took anything below six, and he'd swindle they great, ugly beast if he could. 

Plutt brought out a stack of full rations and laid them on the counter, "Seven or fuck off."

Ben tossed the conductor in the pile of scrap and scooped the rations into one hand before giving the others he couldn't hold to Rey. He gave Plutt a one-handed salute and winked, "Pleasure doing business."

"Watch it, Naberrie." Plutt snarled as the two darted away into the crowd, quickly heading for their tent. 

"Seven!" Rey exclaimed, "Seven. Seven rations!"

"Yes, glad you can count." Ben nudged aside the flap of fabric that masqueraded as a door so they could enter.

"That's two weeks if we have one-quarter ration a day." She looked up at him with wide eyes, "We could even have _two quarters_ for a week!"

Ben remembered, longingly, what it had been like for food to be ever-present. If he was hungry, he ate. It had been simple. Since Jakku, he'd grown skinny and he'd gotten even lankier as his eighteen-year-old body tried to suck up enough calories from the rations to maintain itself. He'd probably missed his last growth spurt by a year due to nutrient deficiency, even if he still was five feet nine inches. He worried about Rey the most; he tried to slip her what he could from his own, but she was starting to get too smart for him. 

"That's true. We can have a few days off, then get back at it." He dumped the rations on an old crate that served as a countertop, then took Rey's and put them there too. 

In the past five years, their hut of three sticks and a sheet had turned into a very small adobe structure. They'd spent every evening for seven months mixing clay, sand, straw, and water together to make the bricks and then leave them to air dry in the sun the next day. It was slow, but they'd managed, and now the small three by six structure stood proudly just outside Niima Outpost. Far enough away to keep out of other scavenger's paths, but close enough to all the good digging sights. He wouldn't tell Rey, but he'd also threatened a few of their peers with a training saber and a glare.

Now they had a real roof, even if it was made of straw and tumbleweed. It wasn't like it ever rained on Jakku anyways. One small window usually covered with a piece of gauze was in the front, and they had just enough room for two piles of cloth on the floor to sleep on and a crate between them to eat on.

Certainly not luxury, but maybe it was a home of sorts. Kriff, his standards had _really_ fallen. 

Rey flopped onto the cloth, sending sand flying into the air. Ben hacked as he sucked a breath in on accident, flipping her off as she laughed.

"Kriffing hells, Rey, I told you not to do that. The sand gets fucking everywhere." Ben waved his arm to dispel the miniature storm that had been kicked up.

"Sorry." She said, looking the least sorry he's ever seen her.

He sighed, sitting and leaning against the crate. Yeah, his standards were rock bottom at this point. Maybe that was okay, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding the effects of nutrient deficiency: that shit can fuck up your growth. ESPECIALLY Rey's, since she was much younger than Ben when she got dropped on Jakku. Her bone development was likely stunted, making her much smaller than the average teenager (soon to be adult in the next few chapters). Not to mention her growth hormones probably didn't fully kick in, so that would account for lack of growth as well. Ben, it didn't affect as much as he was early into his sixteenth year when he arrived on Jakku, so he MAYBE missed his last growth spurt. 
> 
> So I've shaved a few inches of Adam Driver's actual height and instead of Rey being 5'7 (Daisy Ridley's height), she'll be around 5'4 or 5'5. Because that shit can fuck up your growth and development seriously. 
> 
> Other than that, they're very skinny but have a lot of lean muscle because of the scavenging. It takes up a lot of calories, hence why you could probably count their ribs.
> 
> ANYWAYS! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	3. The beginning of an adventure.

"Two-quarter portions."

Stomach rolling in hunger and protest, Ben glared at Unkar Plutt with as much heat as he could manage and snapped out, "At least two whole rations. That's nearly half of an Imperial engine-!"

"Two. Quarter. Portions."

"Two full rations, or you won't get the parts." The dark-haired man snapped, "And I doubt any other scavengers will get _that_ kind of engine piece intact."

Using the force to levitate parts of an engine out of a Star Destroyer was definitely blatant misuse of the force, but he didn't particularly give a shit when his stomach was growling and Rey was beginning to look gaunt. They both were, really. For the past year parts had grown scarcer as all the scavengers on Jakku struggled to survive. Rey and Ben did better than most, it was true; Ben used the force to levitate parts and Rey would tinker around to fix what would have been useless otherwise. She had also gotten fierce with a staff, and they found it easier to defend their finds now that both of them could just beat the competition away.

Even still, as they tore apart ships to find what they needed to eat, parts were running out. Only scraps were left, barely enough to make a living. Soon Ben would have to barter his training lightsaber to Plutt; the junk boss had said he'd give them enough to last a year. Ben didn't know if that was true, but if it was, that'd give them time to scrounge up enough to survive.

" _Listen_ , Naberrie, you'll take the two-quarter portions or I'll have you beat, take the parts, and you'll get nothing."

"I think we both know how that'd go." Ben smirked, faux cockiness effective as he withdrew a knife and twirled it between his fingers, "Two full rations. No portions. Full rations."

Plutt snarled, pulling out more packets and slamming them on the counter. 

Smiling, he swiped the quarter plastic baggies off the counter and turned sharply. Ignoring the same scene playing out between the junk master and the scavenger in line behind him, he shoved the rations in his bag and pulled the thin, gauze-like material over his face to protect him from the whipping winds and the sand that flew about every which way.

Kriff, he hated sand.

He shoved his key in the lock he'd put to tie his speeder to the rack and began to look around for his personal headache.

"Rey, where the hell-?"

"Get your doshin' hands off me!" He heard a grunt, then a sound like the whip of wood against a body.

Rey spun her staff, knocking one thug under the chin as one approached her from behind. Ben grabbed his knife by the handle and pulled it from where it sat on his belt, keeping his saber safely tucked away for now. He took a few long steps to where the fight was being passively watched by the rest of the outpost. He grabbed one of the thugs roughly by the neck, holding the blade to his jugular. Rey kicked the one on the ground in the temple, knocking him out, and spun around to do the same to the one Ben held. She rammed the sandy end of her staff on his forehead, and he dropped from Ben's hand's like a sack of old parts.

Rey panted out a harsh breath, "Sod it."

"What in the kriffing _hells_ did they want?" Ben nudged at one of the bodies with his foot, "Are you alright?"

Wordlessly, she nodded and reached and tore a burlap sack from...a droid? Ben blinked, a BB-8 droid like this was unusual in a place like Jakku. They were advanced tech, not something a scavenger would have handy nor something they would willingly lose should the come across one.

"He'd fetch a high price." He surveyed the droid with a close eye, "Shine him up a bit and Plutt would give us a few months worth for sure."

She gaped at him like he'd suggested murder. The droid made an opposing whirling noise, apparently angry at the proposition of being bartered away.

"We are _not_ selling him to Plutt!" Rey objected, "How could you even-!"

"It's that-" Ben slipped the knife back in its sheath and pulled out his saber, "Or this. Both are only temporary solutions, but we're running out of options. The starships are picked nearly clean, and what are we going to do when there's nothing left?"

She deflated and her eyes grew sad. She looked from the saber to the droid and nearly whined, "I don't want to make that decision, Ben."

"What do you suggest then?" He ground out between clenched teeth, taking a calming breath, "It's not like-"

"We could leave." Rey interrupted what he was about to say, and Ben paused in shock.

"What?" He stuttered slightly, "Your family, though...your parents..."

"They're never coming back." She glanced up at him, "Are they?"

He sighed, feeling way older than he actually was, "It's been ten years. Probably not."

"They could be dead or worse. I know I've waited this long and whenever we talked about leaving before I said no...but..." Rey glanced away, "If they really cared about me, they wouldn't want me to spend my entire like in this junkyard. Would they?"

"I...I wouldn't think so." He shrugged slightly, "Parents are weird, though. Sometimes you can't tell if they actually give a shit about you or not. Mine sent me away, too. I never really knew...if they wanted me after they had me. If I was too much trouble, or if I drove them apart."

Rey frowned, opening her mouth to get a word out when suddenly the droid made a loud whirring noise, rolling its circular body straight into Ben's knees. Catching his balance last minute, he glared down at the BB-8 unit, who was frantically letting out beeps and clanks.

"The droid knows you?" Rey raised a single eyebrow, "He called you Ben...what was that?"

He could practically feel the blood draining from his face.

"No, no, that's not right. His name's Ben Naberrie. Not...did you say Solo? Like the smuggler?"

"Kriff." Ben ran a hand through his hair, "Kriff. Kriffing _fuck_."

Rey looked up at him, slightly alarmed. "What? What's wrong?"

"We really do have to leave Jakku." He turned, ready to haul ass out of Niima Outpost. 

He heard the sound of the droid following him, beeping at his back, and Rey's quiet footsteps on the hard, packed sand.

"Ben? He said he needs your help. His owner was captured by the Order, a...a Resistance pilot? His name's-"

"Just because some flyboy got captured doesn't mean I'm-" He turned to jab a finger at the droid right when Rey finished.

"Poe Dameron."

His heart stuttered, nearly stopped. Poe, his only friend before Jakku and before he'd found Rey. Poe, who was apparently captured by the First Order. As in, the same First Order who wants Ben _dead_. This was Poe's droid, who somehow ended up on Jakku and knew enough about Ben to identify him.

"Poe?" His voice cracked a little, and Rey's eyebrows drew down.

"You know him?" She asked, voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Yeah. We were friends...before all this." Ben sighed, "I haven't talked much about my life before Jakku."

"You mean at all?" Rey crossed her arms, glancing between him and the droid.

"At all." He corrected with a cringe, "Listen, I'll explain later, but we can't-"

The droid let out another angry whirl, rolling back to ram himself into Ben's knees once more. The tall youth simply held a leg out, planting one foot squarely on BB-8's spherical body. The droid tried to ram forward, only to dig himself into the sand as he was held in place by one booted foot.

"Oh, that's just mean." His fellow scavenger frowned, "Poor droid will have sand in his gears forever."

"Why are you even here?" Ben glared down as the droid popped out of the sand, "If...if Poe was captured? How'd you get on Jakku?"

The droid looked ready to ram him again when something caught its attention, it's head swiveling to look at something through the crowd. He let out a loud noise, something like gears grinding and creaking, and both Rey and Ben glanced at each other.

"Thief?" She asked him, "Who...?"

She followed the droid's gaze to settle on a young man maybe twenty feet from them, wearing a worn brown jacket. Ben's heart sank involuntarily, "Guessing that's Poe's jacket."

"That's the thief?" Rey gestured with her staff and took off as soon as the droid bobbed its head.

Ben groaned, watching her go, "Kriffing hells, Rey, really?"

He ran after the two, the dark-skinned man ducking desperately through tents and around corners, trying desperately to escape, but it was inevitable in the end. When Rey wanted to whack someone with that damned stick of hers, she'd do it. Catching up, BB-8 came to a sudden stop at the same time Ben did, knocking right into the back of his knees, sending him jolting forwards. Snarling slightly as Rey knocked the man to the ground, he tossed the droid an unamused look.

"What's your hurry, thief?" She glared down her staff at him, holding it to his neck.

"What?" He gasped out, "Thief?"

"The jacket." She hissed, "This droid says you stole it."

"Listen, I've had a pretty messed up day, alright? So I'd appreciate it if you stopped accusing me-!"

He cut himself off with a scream as BB-8 rolled forward and electrocuted him with a thin mechanical arm.

"Where'd you get it, then?" Rey asked, "It belonged to his master. My friend's friend."

She nodded towards Ben, and he fought back a sigh. She really wasn't going to let it go.

He looked at the droid in some realization, "It belonged to Poe Dameron. That's his name, right? He was captured by the First Order."

"We already knew both of those things." Ben stepped forward finally, "That still doesn't explain why you have his jacket and who you are."

He blinked at Ben, "I helped him escape. My name...my name is Finn. Our...our ship crashed. Poe didn't make it."

The droid seemed to droop as if his battery had been drained. Rey glanced at the BB-8 unit and then Ben. She dropped her staff from the man's neck and moved towards her fellow scavenger, placing a hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry, Ben."

"I am too." Finn said, looking straight at them, eyes wide and honest, "Look, I tried to help him. I really did, but I couldn't stop the ship from burning. I barely got out alive."

Ben felt numb inside. The kind of numbness he hadn't felt in a while; not since he'd woken up with his uncle above him, lightsaber out and ready to cut him down. He swallowed thickly, turning away, but the droid following his movements and brushed against his leg.

"If you knock into me one more time, I'll feed you to a sarlacc." He whispered half-heartedly.

The droid made a quiet beeping noise.

"He said there are none on Jakku." Rey translated quietly.

"I don't care if there's not one on Jakku. I'll drag you all the way to Vodran if I have to, you metal trashcan." He cracked a small smile, forcing it to be wider than usual only so Rey would quit watching him with wide, sad eyes.

"So you knew Poe?" Finn's eyes were glue on him questioningly, "You were with the Resistance, too?"

Rey was watching him like a shriek-hawk, too, waiting for his response. She held a hand out for Finn, which eagerly accepted, and let her pull him up.

"Sort of." He said, begrudgingly, "I was a padawan at the Jedi Temple. Not directly tied to the Resistance, but close enough."

"A Jedi Padawan?" Finn breathed out, surprise coloring his features, "I thought they were all killed?"

"Well, they missed one. Lucky me."

"So, if you were technically with the Resistance, why'd you come to Jakku?" Rey asked.

Finn nodded, "Really though, I'd like to know that too. No offense, but this place is a junkyard."

"We know." Rey and Ben spoke at the same time with blank looks.

Finn's eyebrows furrowed, "That's...that's kinda creepy."

"I wasn't meaning to," Ben answered, ignoring the comment, "I was fleeing the First Order. I emergency landed, which turned into a crash-landing, my ship was fried, and here we are."

"And you?" Rey looked at him, "You're with the Resistance?"

"Uh..." He faltered slightly but, under Rey's curious look, he managed to scramble up some confidence quite smoothly, nodding with what almost seemed like confidence, "Y-yes. Yes, I am. I'm with the Resistance, I am _with_ the Resistance."

Ben already felt a headache forming around his temples.

"I've never met a Resistance fighter before." Rey faltered, "Well...there's Ben, I guess."

"Well, this is what we look like." He nodded firmly before faltering, "Well, some of us. Others look different...like Ben."

"Not a Resistance fighter."

"Well, Finn," Rey's smiled was almost contagious, "BB-8 says he's on a secret mission. He needs to get back to your base as soon as possible."

"The map." Finn muttered, "Apparently he's got a map to Luke Skywalker. Everyone's after it; the Resistance _and_ the First Order."

Now seemed to be a jolly good time for him to kriff off, Ben thought, taking a step backward. He went to call for Rey but the damned metal trashcan knocked him forwards once more with quiet beeps of protest.

"Luke Skywalker?" Ben cringed as Rey quietly repeated the name with reverence and the droid turned around once more, "I thought he was a myth!"

"Yeah, trust me, he's not-" Ben ground out, teeth clenched.

Rey's eyes grew as wide as saucers, "Were _you_ his padadong?"

"Wha-? _Padawan_ , Rey. Besides, it's not important."

"It is if you knew Luke Skywalker." Finn cut in, "The Resistance needs him, apparently. The Order is getting stronger; the Knights of Ren are powerful, too powerful, and the rebellion is losing traction."

Ben's heart twisted. He had many complicated feelings surrounding his family, but he didn't want them harmed. That's why he ran, why he didn't even try to go back. He just knew his mother was the one leading it all, probably with his father no doubt. Apparently, his uncle had fucked off to force knows where, and they needed him back for a chance at survival. His parents, barely surviving. Poe, he hadn't even stood a chance. He may be conflicted, but he knew one this; he didn't want them dead. If that meant he had to find them, his parents and his uncle, just to keep them alive...

BB-8 let out a loud series of fast beeps, drawing the three's attention. Across the way, two stormtroopers, of all kriffing things, spoke to a group of scavengers that pointed right at them.

Finn grabbed Ben and Rey by their hands, igniting a series of snapped protests from them both. He dragged them away as the troopers opened fire, BB-8 kicking up dust as it stayed hot on their tails. Ben ripped his hand from Finn, picking up speed as Rey did the same.

"I know how to run without you holding my hand!" She and Ben made a sharp right, "This way! BB-8, stay close!"

They ducked into a tent, the shooting continuing some distance away outside.

"They were shooting at all of us!" Rey rounded on Finn, "Why not just you?"

"They saw you with me." He rifled around in the piled of junk around them, "You're marked."

"Kriffing thanks." Ben snarled out, pulling out his lightsaber.

"Does no one around here have blasters?" Finn groaned as Rey reached down to check on the droid, he turned around to look at Ben only to see the shining yellow blade, "Kriffing-! Is that a _lightsaber_? Like, a _Jedi_ one?"

"Be quiet." Ben snapped, "Shut up, all of you. Hear that?"

A loud noise came from outside, a sweeping sound that could only be one thing.

"Airstrike." Finn's eyes widened, "We need to go!"

Explosions rained from the sky as they fled the cover of the tent, running straight through the gates of the Outpost and out into the sandy fields filled with all the old junk and a few ships. Ben looked over at Rey, having to yell to break through the chaos, "Quadjumper?"

"What are you guys doing?" Finn screamed, "We can't outrun them!"

"In that, we can!" Rey pointed to the Quadjumper Ben had referred to, "Come on!"

"We need a pilot!"

"We've got two!" Rey screamed back, heading straight for the ship.

"You guys? I thought Ben said he crash-landed!" Finn's voice was incredulous, "Besides, what about that ship?"

"That's garbage!" The scavenger woman shook her head, staying on course.

A TIE fighter flew overhead, and the Quadjumper went up in flames and a huge explosion. Rey stumbled back a few feet, looking at them with wide eyes, "The garbage will do!"

As they ran for the ship, Ben cursed every single God there was or wasn't. Of course, it'd be the Millennium Falcon. Of kriffing course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben is...painfully like his father but also painfully like pre-fall Anakin so I'm #sad. Rey is trying her best and so is Finn for that matter. The pieces are all there, they just don't realize the fucking prince of the resistance would be on Jakku lmao. 
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER THEY MEET HAN AND CHEWIE! All will fall into place!


	4. A crash course in childhood trauma.

They boarded unceremoniously. Ben felt like there should've been dramatic music in the background, boarding the ship he'd seen his father so often speed away in as a child. Occasionally he'd even gone on trips with him, and he'd gotten the chance to fly it more than a few times. The roar of explosions followed them closely, though, and he had no more time for introspection. 

"The gunner position is down there!" Rey yelled before disappearing deeper into the ship where Ben knew the pilot's cabin was.

"Does she expect us to-?" Finn looked at Ben with wide eyes, but the scavenger was already brushing past him and jumping into the small gunner's seat, forgoing the ladder entirely. Finn blinked, mouth opening and closing silently, before turning to yell at Rey, "You ever fly this thing?"

"No! This ship hasn't flown in years!" Her voice was muffled by BB-8's beeping, and Finn looked back down at the ladder.

"Great-!"

"Fuck!" He heard Ben snap down below, and Finn poked his head down to see the seat jerking him violently around.

"You need some help?"

"It's obvious this thing hasn't flown in years! Kriffing junk is what it is!" The engine whirled to life, the ship tilting sideways as it took off. Ben smashed into the wall with a great thud before snarling and righting himself in the seat, "Shit, Rey, can you actually fly this!"

"Shove it, Ben!" She yelled back, voice muffled, "I got this!"

Finn groaned, rubbing his face with both hands. He was going to die. After escaping the Finalizer, crashing on a sandy hellhole, surviving their ship going up in flames, and giving First Order troops the slip, he was finally going to die. Die before the ship _even got off the planet_ , mind you. The whole metal coffin rumbled, making Finn grab the wall and Ben curse colorfully as Rey's piloting took the roof clean off Unkar Plutt's outpost. They could see the man shaking his fists and yelling through the windows of the gunner's position, and the male scavenger in the seat snorted before firing off a shot, sending a whole pile of the junk boss's so-called treasures up in flames.

"Petty." Finn chuckled slightly.

"If you knew him you'd be petty too." Ben laughed joyously, watching the fire burn below, "Never thought I'd leave this place."

The First Order ships turned to come at them fast right around then, and Finn scaled the ladder to poke his head out, "Stay low! Stay low!"

"What?" Rey yelled from the cockpit, " _Low_?"

"It confuses their tracking!" Things were blowing up all around them, Finn just _knew_ , "It's because the- you know what, just trust me!"

The whole ship spun and both BB-8 and Finn crashed into the ceiling and then the floor as the TIE fighters began to fire at them, a shot grazing the ship and making it tilt. Finn scrambled to his feet, "Do you even have the shields up?"

"Not without a co-pilot!"

Before she was even done speaking, Ben was leaping out of the gunner's pit and shoving Finn towards it, "Hit the red buttons and aim! I'll be back!"

He took off running, the droid nipping at his heels close behind, and Finn sighing before diving below. It couldn't be _that_ hard.

* * *

Ben slid down the hallways, rushing into the pilot's cabin and shoving his hand on the button the activate the shields before Rey could finish reaching. He slid into the co-pilot's seat, throwing the headset on and grabbing the controls before him. It was too familiar.

"Is Finn even shooting?" Rey muttered, turning her head to yell, "Are you even shooting?"

"Not in my _ear_ , please." Ben muttered, flipping the switches to up the speed, "Get us some cover!"

"On it." She gunned the steering controls, pushing them towards the Battleship Graveyard that the two scavengers knew by heart as the enemy fire grew heavier, "Ben! Go help him shoot!"

A TIE fighter went down in a shock of sparks, crashing into the sand and rubble below them. Ben raised an eyebrow, "I think he's doing fine!"

"Thank you! See, even Ben thinks I'm-!" Finn's voice was cut out as Rey took a sharp right into the bowels of a gutted ship, "Watch it!"

Ben switched the lights on, "One more to go! Shoot it down, Finn!"

Rey shot them out of the ship last minute, flying high before cutting the engine, making a sudden drop. The last hit was a direct one, the First Order ship blasting to pieces mid-air. Activating the engines again, she piloted the ship up as Ben turned on the hyperdrive, allowing them to break through the oppressive atmosphere of Jakku and into the space beyond it. Right as Ben set the autopilot on, alarms began to blare. 

"Kriff!" Ben jumped up at the same time Rey did, running into the entrance compartment of the ship where Finn crawled from the gunner's seat, "What is _that_?"

"Somethings wrong..." Rey looked at the floor, smoke rising from one spot near the center, "There."

Pulling the grate up, she pushed it aside and slid in while Ben dragged one of the stray boxes of tools out with Finn. She shouted from inside the floor, "It's the motivator!"

"How bad is that?" Finn looked between where she was and Ben with wide eyes, "Like, on a scale."

"Close to a ten." Ben sighed, throwing a few tools into the hole where their makeshift repair-woman was.

"They're hunting us now." The former stormtrooper dug around in the boxes, looking for something of use, "We need to get out of this system fast!"

"BB-8 said the location of the resistance base is need-to-know. If I'm going to take you there, I need to know." She popped her head up, accepting a role of tape before going back under, "Preferably soon."

Ben gave Finn an expectant look, but when the other man just stared back at him with wide eyes, he gave BB-8 a scathing look. The droid beeped quietly.

"He says-" Rey poked her head out of the hole, looking confused, "He says he thought you were with the First Order?"

"You-? What-?" Ben blinked, pure shock the expression on his face before his expression fell into a dark snarl, leaning down to hiss, "I've never been with the kriffing First Order, why the fuck do you think I ran away? He literally sent a damn force using knight to abduct me from the forest where I happened to be _fleeing_ the carnage, you bucket of bolts! So tell us the location before I drop you back on Jakku and leave you to rust while we go find a nice tropical planet to lounge on!"

BB-8 made an offended whirling noise before beeping at Rey so she could hear.

"The Ileenium System?" Rey asked, glancing over at Ben. 

"Yes!" Finn nodded, giving the droid a thumbs up when they both looked away, "The Ileenium System!"

"We'll get you both there as soon as possible." Rey nodded firmly before glancing down, "Now hand me the bonding tape."

"What about you two?"

She shared a look with Ben, who just shrugged, before responding, "We'll go somewhere."

Finn snatched a roll of... _something_ , before giving her an incredulous look, " _Somewhere_? Not much of a plan, huh?"

"No, not that one." Rey pointed, "No. No."

Finn kept scrambling for different objects in the general area.

"The one I'm _pointing at_." Rey shook her head, "No, no, _no_! This will leak _poisonous gas everywhere_ if I don't bond this-!"

"Kriffing hell!" Ben dropped the wrench he held and grabbed the small roll of yellow tape, tossing it to her in a smooth movement.

"Thank you." She pressed the tape over everything, stopping the smoke from leaking, "And done."

"You looking for anywhere specific in the galaxy?" He looked at them critically, "You got family somewhere? I thought Ben came from the resistance, wouldn't he want to stay with them?"

"None of your business." They replied in sync, though Rey sounded a bit more amicable.

"That's still so creepy." Finn muttered, "I don't-"

The lights shut down all around them, the engine stalling as everything went dark except for the scarce few red emergency lights.

"That can't be good." Finn breathed, "Can it?"

"No." Rey pulled herself out of the floor, and the three rushed for the pilot's cabin. Rey and Ben sat down, pushing any buttons they could, but none responded.

"Someone's docked onto us." Ben looked at her with grim eyes.

"Which means all controls are overridden." Rey groaned, standing up and using Ben's head to balance as she climbed to get a better view.

"Rey-! Get off-! Get off!" He shoved her hand off his head, readjusting the braided bun he had his hair pulled up in. 

"See anything?" Finn craned his neck, trying to get a glance.

"Oh no." Rey breathed.

Finn's eyes widened as they were slowly sucked into the docking ship, "It's the First Order."

Ben clenched his fists as Rey shook her head, "There has to be something, anything-"

"You said poisonous gas." Finn looked up.

"I fixed that." Rey said, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Can you unfix it?" 

The three of them took off down the hallway, Finn and Rey helping BB-8 into the floor while Ben grabbed the oxygen masks. Finn fell with a hard thud, the droid on top of him, and the two scavengers leaped down right after. Ben pulled the grate over, sending a skeptical glance at Finn.

"You sure this'll work on stormtroopers?"

"Yeah, their masks filter out smoke, not toxins." The lights came back on and they heard the door begin to slide open, "Hurry!"

"Hurrying!" Rey said, working on the pipes as they all pulled their masks on.

The door finally opened, and they heard a set of footsteps clang against the metal. Finn looked confused, whispering, "There'd be more than one."

Then Ben heard the voice. 

"Chewie...we're home."

Freezing, he couldn't stop the quiet snarl that tore from his throat. Rey heard him, dropping the wrench in surprise before she gave him a concerned look. Finn looked back at both of them and saw Ben's face, bordering on horror and some unmeasurable kind of sadness, and gestured at Rey to stand in front of him. They tried to sort of shield him, Ben standing back in silent shock at the two, BB-8 giving a quiet beep of solidarity.

Suddenly the grate was ripped up and Ben accepted his fate. Even with Finn and Rey in front of him, there were only three people and a droid in the floor. He'd be hard not to notice. It sort of felt like an out of body experience, simultaneously wanting to throw himself out the airlock and give up any pretenses and run to the father he hasn't seen in over a decade. Everything moved in slow motion before suddenly Han Solo was above them, pointing a blaster down into the hole where they stood.

Rey moved as quick as a loth cat; before the man above them could even blink she had grabbed Ben's lightsaber from its makeshift holster and ignited the blade, pushing herself in front of Finn and her fellow scavenger. The dim yellow light of the training blade pulsed in the closed, dark corner of the floor.

Finn had yelped in shock, pulling his mask off as he leaped away from the beam of pure energy, stepping backward right into Ben. The male scavenger slipped on the smooth metal floors, falling backward over BB-8. His foot kicked out frantically, hitting Finn straight in the back and sending him stumbling forward. Rey stepped to the side easily, keeping her eyes trained on the man and Wookie above them.

"I don't care who you are! The First Order will _not_ take this droid _or my best friend_!" She snapped out, glaring.

"What?" Han didn't drop the blaster, raising an eyebrow, "Who are you? Where are the others, the pilot?"

Rey tore her mask off with her free hand, the readied the saber with both, "I'm the pilot! We're the only ones on the ship."

Han raised his eyebrows, "You? The pilot? And what's this about the First Order?"

Finn took a wary step back to where Ben laid motionless on the floor, leaning down to whisper, "Are you okay? Did you get knocked out?"

"No." He said, not even bothering to whisper or get up as he took his mask off, tossing it away carelessly.

"Who are they back there?" Han jerked his head behind Rey, "And put that down, you don't even look like you know how to use it. Where'd you get it anyway?"

"I _do_ know how to use it!" Rey snapped, bluffing, "And they're not any of you're business! You're not hurting my friend!"

"Wow, I can really feel the love." Finn muttered as he massaged his temples slowly from where he was crouched next to BB-8, both of them looking down at Ben in mild confusion.

"Friends." Rey amended quickly.

"Listen, get out of there, okay? This is _my_ ship. I don't have a clue what you're talking about, but I'll drop you off at the next inhabited planet if you put that thing away and start making sense."

Ben stood up, ignoring the offered hand from Finn and dusting off his pants and shirt. Rey looked back, confused, but kept a firm hold on the lightsaber.

"Hand it over, Rey. He's right, you really don't know how to use it and I don't want to lose a hand." Ben held his hand out, and she hesitated a moment before powering it down and giving it to him hilt first.

"And who are you?" Han motioned at him with the blaster right as Ben stepped out from behind Rey, a slight smirk tilting his lips.

"It's been a while." Ben said emotionlessly, leaving Rey and Finn to cast him concerned glances from where they now stood behind him.

"What-?" Han blinked, lowering the blaster as he took in his son's face, "Ben?"

His father said his name quietly, in a croaked voice that sounded strangled by years of tears and heartbreak.

Chewie looked around the grate and let out a big roar. Ben, still understanding Wookie quite well, grimaced.

"Ben?" Han breathed again, disbelieving as he dropped the blaster completely for a second, only for it to come back up, "Then...the First Order is here?"

At the question, though it sounded more like a statement of fact, Rey shook her head fiercely and elbowed in front of Ben again, "No! We're running _from_ the First Order! Did you hear anything I said earlier? And...how do you know Ben? He didn't seem very happy-!"

"Kriff, Rey." Ben sighed, "I'm _fine_."

Han looked at them all with wide eyes, stepping back more in a motion that was stilted from shock, "Get out of there."

Rey and Finn climbed out, leaving a struggling Ben to try and heft BB-8 out of their temporary prison. Rey bent down to help him, taking half the droids weight and laying it on the outer floor of the ship. She reached a hand down then, helping Ben jump out in a smooth motion. 

"Ben, is that you?" Han asked, looking at the three of them, "Where the hell-?"

"How do you know him?" Rey butted in again, "He never mentioned anyone like you. Or, well, he never mentioned anyone at all, I guess."

"I'm his _father_." Han griped, sending her a dirty look.

Rey's eyes widened, all the breath leaving her in a gasp as she sent Ben a wide-eyed gaze, "That's...your father? Did we find your family? Did you...even want to find them?"

"Well, I had mixed feelings before, but not so much now." The dark-haired young man snarked, anger building, "I escaped the First Order, you know! I ran the first chance I got and ended up crash landing on _kriffing Jakku_! I couldn't escape that Sith-damned planet for _ten_ years. The First Order is still after me, I couldn't have returned home even if I had the means to because Snoke would've tracked me down and killed you all, and now that I finally leave Jakku at risk of being _hunted like an animal_ to save all your asses by giving you this damned droid, guess what? I find out you all thought I joined the _fucking First Order_! Not only did the droid say it, but _you_. You said it to my face."

Han stood stock still as his son trembled like a bomb ready to go off, jaw clenched so hard that Rey worried for his teeth.

Finn sucked in a breath through his teeth as he grabbed Rey's arm, "Uh...we're gonna...um...pilot's cabin. BB-8, c'mon!"

He dragged Rey behind him, making her hit his shoulder lightly, "I can walk! And Ben-!"

She quieted down when Finn whispered something to her and they then disappeared down the hallway. Only the droid remained, and Ben sent it a chilly glare, "I _will_ feed you to a Sarlacc. We've established this."

The droid beeped angrily, poking out his arm and sending a rain of sparks down of Ben's feet as it rolled away. Chewie took a few steps back into the hallways with a low rumble, far enough away to give them space but close enough that he could still hear.

" _Jakku_?" Han took a step forward, reaching a hand out when Ben didn't move, "That junkyard?"

Ben said nothing for a moment, watching his father with cold eyes.

"I had to escape getting _kidnapped_ by the First Order all by myself." Ben spat out, all the venom of ten years coming up to dance on his tongue, "No one came after me. No one gave two shits. So I crawled out the bathroom window next to the airlock the same damn day and stole a ship. You all _still_ thought...I can't win with any of you, can I? No matter how hard I tried as a child, no matter what I did, that _dark-side bullshit_ hung over my head since I was old enough to know what the words meant! You always expect the worse, no matter how I try to prove otherwise."

The venom was gone at that point, leaving only raw old wounds and a hollow feeling in Ben's chest.

Han opened his mouth wordlessly before closing it. It took him a second to find the words, eyes suspiciously wet, "No, Ben. I-We never thought-"

He didn't finish the sentence, but Ben cut any attempt off at the legs, "Don't lie to me. I wasn't a stupid child. I heard you talking, saw the looks you sent me when you thought I wasn't looking. What did I _do_? What did I _do to deserve that_?"

"Nothing, Ben, nothing." Han made a hopeless motion with his hands as his son's eyes filled with tears, "You were a good kid, you tried your best-"

"But it wasn't enough, huh?" Ben let out a miserable laugh, "You were scared of me. I never did _anything_ to provoke it, but you were scared of me. What, did I cry too much? Maybe throw a temper tantrum over a toy? Was that enough to _ask my uncle to kill me_?"

He snapped the words out hoarsely, screaming quietly in a way that tore his father's heart out. Han shook his head, taking a trembling breath, "What are you talking about? Ben, we would never. _Luke_ would never!"

"Then why'd I wake up to him standing over me with an ignited blade?" Ben asked, raising his eyebrows, his entire face tense with anger and sadness, "I ran because I thought he was going to kill me. Then those karking...knights, or whatever the kriff they are, showed up and dragged me to a ship and threw me in front of Snoke. That's their Supreme Leader, by the way. Ugly piece of Bantha fodder, if you're wondering. Scared the force out of me and I asked to use the bathroom, stole a ship, and the rest is history."

Han shook his head, mouth parted in open shock, "Luke...why would...no, Ben, no we never wanted that. There's some misunderstanding, he's your uncle for kriff's sake, there's no way..."

"But you thought I stayed with them." Ben pursed his lips, "After they slaughtered everyone I knew and threatened me with torture if I tried to leave."

"We thought you fell..." Han faltered, "Luke said..."

"I fell to the dark side?" Ben raised a single brow, "No, but once again, unbelievable support. I'm so happy that I, at sixteen, was _that_ big of a disappointment."

"Luke...he went into exile, he thought it was his fault." Han tried again, "Your mother threw herself into her work. We all thought...Ben, I'm _sorry_. We should've looked for you, but Luke was so sure. Your force signature disappeared, he thought you were hiding from us. Your mother...she was a mess. I don't think she really wanted to know."

"So you just gave up, too?" It was said with defeat, not anger.

"Kriff, Ben, I'm...I don't know what to tell you. Why the hell didn't you come home? Explain what happened?" Han held up his hands in surrender, "Not...not that you were at fault! You were sixteen and running for your life but...why did you stay away, hidden on Jakku? We could've kept you from Snoke, that's our job as your parents. You don't protect us, we protect you."

"You couldn't have protected me. I would've tried to continue training, Snoke would've found me, and he would've killed you all." 

"You're not giving us much credit here, kiddo." Han smiled slightly.

"I wasn't going to gamble with the lives of my entire family. Besides, once I crash-landed I didn't have a choice." Ben chewed on the inside of his cheek, "I would've had to cut off my arm and leg and sold them on the black market to afford a ship from Unkar Plutt. Even still, I might've been short. We barely scavenged enough to survive. I haven't eaten anything but rations and tumbleweeds in ten years because that's all there is."

Han had a look of horror on his face that Ben supposed only a parent could achieve, and something in his heart shifted. Crushing down any sparks of warmth he felt, he averted his gaze, "I saw the Falcon when it landed on Jakku, you know."

His father said nothing, so Ben just continued with a twist to his mouth and narrowed eyes, "I was, what, eighteen? I saw the ship land and I got so kriffing excited. I thought you'd actually found me, you actually gave enough of a shit to look. Then I found out Unkar Plutt had stolen it from the Irving Boys who had stolen it from Ducain. So much for getting my hopes up, huh?"

Han sighed, running a hand over his face, "I knew I should've double-checked the western reaches. So, how'd you end up here?"

Ben looked at him, a deadpan expression on his face, "Poe and Finn, the man who was with us, crash-landed on Jakku. Poe...didn't make it, apparently. The First Order was after them because BB-8 has a map to Luke Skywalker. A bunch of stormtroopers ambushed Rey and I after we helped Finn at the Outpost, and we had to run or get killed. Speaking of, we have to get the droid back to the resistance."

"That's...a lot." Han said, subdued even though relief was shining in his eyes, "I'm just so... _so_ happy you're safe and alive, kid. I always hoped I'd get to see you again, see your face."

His father reached out with one hand slowly, almost hesitantly, like he was giving Ben time to take a step back and retreat. He didn't, setting his jaw and letting Han put a hand on his shoulder. For a moment, everything was silent and still. Then Han jerked him forward, crushing his son to his chest in a hug. Ben let out a quiet, startled noise, but let it happen in spite of everything. In truth, he felt like a child again as his dad hugged him. Slowly he brought his arms up, returning the motion before he was released. When he took a step back his father looked relieved, like getting a hug from his son was more than he could have expected.

Han's expression faltered for a moment, "After everything is over, you're coming home, right? Your mother misses you...I miss you."

"Then why'd you send me away in the first place?" Ben questioned, "Even if it was all a misunderstanding, even if there was some other reason my uncle was standing over me with a karking lightsaber, why'd you ship me off to begin with? I said I didn't want to go, I begged not to leave home. You forced me anyways."

"We couldn't train you." Han cringed slightly, "I didn't want to, but your mom and Luke agreed it was for the best. If I could take it all back, Ben, hell, you know I would."

"I haven't even used the force hardly at all for ten years and I've been just fine." Ben's face twisted up into a scowl, "I didn't need training, I needed my family. Honestly, kriff the force."

His father looked shocked for a moment before letting out a sharp laugh, surveying Ben with disbelieving eyes, "And Luke was worried you idolized Vader. Looks like you're more like your old man than we thought."

"As if anyone would idolize that bastard." He ignored the thought that Snoke _had_ planted that seed in his head as a child, "Who wants to look like a kriffing black trash can anyways? Not to mention committing mass murder and genocide...What an asshole."

He tried to stop the flame of hope growing in his chest when for the first time Han looked at him with something other than confused disbelief and disappointment. Instead, his dad almost looked proud.

"So...you'll come home?" Han asked, "Please, Ben."

He thought of Rey, who'd basically become his little sister ever since she was dropped off on Jakku like unwanted garbage. The way she'd attached herself to him, and the way he'd seen her grow up. His heart shriveled a bit at the thought of her going off into the galaxy by herself or retreating back to Jakku. That's what she'd probably do if he left her, after all; return to the junkyard, hoping some scrap of family would return to take her back. As if he could ever leave her; it wasn't even an option. That's all people in both their lives had ever done to them; leave, ignore, and betray. They wouldn't be doing that to each other.

He shrugged, "If Rey stays."

His father glanced where she'd headed off with Finn, "The girl-?"

Suddenly they heard what sounded like gunfire and crashing in the distance. Ben froze, looking up with wide eyes, "The First Order?"

"I wish." He muttered right as Rey and Finn came skidding into the room with wide eyes, "Don't tell me a Rathtar's gotten loose."

Finn looked at him with horrified wide eyes, " _What_?"

Han didn't respond, opening the door to the Falcon and exiting into the freighter he piloted.

"Did you just say a kriffing Rathtar? You have _Rathtars_ on this ship?" Ben yelled at his father, running after him.

"You're not hauling Rathtars on this freighter, are you?" Finn shouter, close behind the both of them.

"I'm hauling Rathtars." The old war hero cursed colorfully as they all caught up, "Oh great, it's the Guavian Death Gang!"

"The _what_?" Ben snapped tersely.

"They must've tracked us from Nantoon." Han muttered, walking off towards one of the hallways.

"Will someone please tell me what a Rathtar is?" Rey asked, getting no response as she followed everyone deeper into the freighter.

Han hooked a blaster on his belt as he stood in front of one of the entrances to the freighter. Suddenly, a giant eye slammed up against the window in the door behind them, making everyone besides Han and Chewie jump.

" _That's_ a Rathtar." Han waved a hand at it.

"What are you planning on doing?" Ben demanded, "The _Guavian Death Gang_ doesn't exactly sound friendly!"

"I'll talk my way out of it like I always do." Han shrugged.

Chewie gave a contradictory growl, making Ben turn to his father with narrowed eyes, "Really? Always? Not what I just heard."

Han blinked in surprise.

"Yes, I still know Wookie!" The force-sensitive spat, "It's not like I'd forget it!"

"I _do_ always talk myself out of it." Han reassured, sending a glare and a pointed finger at Chewie, "Every time. Hide, out of sight, now! Ben, take your friends somewhere. The droid will stay up here, too much clanging will draw their attention."

"Well, kriff, let's sit back and watch this crash and burn," Ben muttered as they slid down the hallway to remain out of sight, getting a growl of agreement from Chewie as the Wookie and his father slid the door open.

"You know, I see a resemblance between you and your father." Rey whispered.

"What?" Ben looked over at her curiously, "Everyone actually used to say I favored my mother."

"No, no. I meant personality-wise. You're both reckless and have no sense of self-preservation."

Finn snickered quietly as Ben gave her an affronted look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed! Please drop a comment, let me know what you'd like to see and what you though?
> 
> Lol, wonder what Leia's gonna think when her husband AND son come busting up to the resistance base?


	5. Things blowing up spectacularly.

Ben grumbled to himself as he led Finn and Rey to the lower corridors of the freighter. He'd been on more than one of these as a kid; the Millineum Falcon hadn't been big or strong enough to haul some of the loads they'd transported; sometimes the things were large or they were destructive. Sometimes they were both. In hindsight, it was an absolutely awful idea for him to be there as a child; then again, that was back when Han was putting in the effort at being a father. He'd actually watched out for his son's wellbeing as a parent should. That was all before they'd decided to up and hand him over to Luke, along with all child-rearing responsibilities. 

Slipping under the floor his father stood on, the three looked up as the men marched forward to the entrance of the freighter from their docked ship.

"Han Solo." They heard a man's voice speak with a thick accent, "You're a dead man."

"Bala-Tik, what's the problem?" Ben could hear the subtle charm in his father's voice and rolled his eyes. This should be good.

"The problem is we loaned you fifty-thousand for this job, then you borrowed fifty-thousand from Kanjiklub."

They could hear Han scoff from above as they searched for a better vantage point, "You know you can't trust those little freaks! How many times have they made good on their word?"

"We want our money back."

"You think hunting rathtars is cheap?" Han asked incredulously, "I spent that money?"

"Kanjiklub wants their investment back, too." The man sneered.

"I never made a deal with Kanjiklub." They heard Han bluff, but Ben could hear the deception in his father's voice.

They heard another door open and Ben bit back a curse as Bala-Tik continued, "How about you ask them, then?"

"Kriff, they've got a lot of blasters." Ben hissed to his companions, looking up through the thick floor grates, "Are you seeing this?"

"Sadly, yes," Finn whispered.

"Tasu Leech," They could hear the surprise in Han's voice, "Ah, good to see you. I'm sure we can-"

"Wrong again, Solo." Tasu Leech spoke in the language of Nar Kanji rather than the standard Galactic Basic, "It's over."

"Boys, boys!" They saw Han make a placating motion with his arms, "You're both gonna get what I promised! Have I ever not delivered?"

"Yeah." Bala-Tik responded, deadpan.

"Twice." Tasu Leech sneered in Nar Kanji.

They heard Chewie grunt in agreement, and heard Han mutter a bit before speaking up, "Wait, what was the second time?"

"Your game is old." Bala-Tik said, "There's no one in the galaxy left for you to swindle."

"You'd be surprised," Ben muttered, making Rey crack a smile.

"Nowhere left to hide." Tasu Leech said, satisfied.

"That BB Unit." They heard Bala-Tik take a step forward, the metal bridge creaking beneath his feet, "The First Order is looking for one just like it."

Rey began cursing right as the man continued, "And three fugitives."

They froze in their crawling, looking at each other with wide eyes.

Han scoffed, "First I've heard of it."

"Search the ship!" Tasu Leech snapped, and both gangs began to board.

They moved frantically in the underbelly of the ship, hardware all around when Rey suddenly froze, "Wait, wait, wait."

She looked closely at a switchboard, "If we close the blast doors in that corridor, we can trap both gangs."

"We can close the blast doors from here?" Finn asked, looking at her skeptically.

"Just let her go." Ben waved a hand, looking around cautiously, "Rey's skilled in two things; snark and mechanics."

Rey shoved him hard, making him teeter over, but began smashing buttons, "Resetting the fuses should do it."

They heard a loud roaring distantly, Rey paling as Ben glared at her heatedly.

"Oh no." She breathed.

"Oh no?" Finn said, wide-eyed, "Oh no _what_?" 

"Those were, uh, perhaps the wrong the wrongs fuses." She scratched her cheek, looking over at Ben sheepishly with pleading eyes, "I'm sorry. Please don't be mad."

"You've let rathtars loose!" He finally blew, making an exaggerated hand gesture before pinching his nose, "This is a kriffing shit show."

They crawled frantically, looking for an exit up to the main floor as the screams and groans grew louder. Rey felt sweat beading on her neck, heart pounding as she let her instincts guide her. They took a sharp left and saw a mechanic's exit, unscrewing the door and crawling out. The red lights cast a dim, fatalistic glow on them as they scrambled out, Ben going first and grabbing Finn and Rey by the hands and helping them up. Ben was only a smidge taller than Finn, but he was at least half a foot higher than Rey. Every bit of leverage helped as he yanked them both out, all three being spilled tumbling to the side before they got up running, taking off at a dead sprint. 

"What do they even look like?" Rey shouted as they turned a corner, breath coming hard as she sucked in air, anxiety making her heart beat faster.

A great beast with a huge mouth came clambering down the hall right at that moment, a thug grasped in his tentacles. Its beady eyes looked at them before tossing the man into a wall, his back hitting with a sickening snap.

"Like that." Finn said grimly, grabbing her arm as she covered her mouth in horror, the three of them taking flight once more.

They turned a sharp corner, Finn shouting as a tentacle grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him back, his chest hitting the metal flooring with a thud. 

"No!" He yelped, terror on his face, "No, no, no!"

"Finn!" Rey and Ben screamed at the same time, taking off after the beast and their friend as it began to retreat with its meal. 

"Rey!" Finn screamed, voice hoarse with fear, "Ben! Help, please, oh, get off, get off!"

He was babbling as the two desperately raced after him, tentacles flashing out at them.

Ben slid his lightsaber from its holster, hoping against hope it had enough power to do what he needed it to do. He might've been taken before he was knighted, but he was one of the best kriffing padawans Luke had. He had even managed to keep his uncle on his toes when they sparred, and he'd been meticulously and relentlessly trained in hopes of getting his powers under control.

He could handle a rathtar.

Hopefully.

He ignited the blade, opening himself up to the force for the first time in ten years. It flowed through him, through his soul and his veins, igniting his body like a match. He heard Rey gasp, looking at him with wide eyes, and for the first time, he truly saw her, too. Her signature within the living force was bright as a beacon, and it stunned him for only a second. Then Finn screamed when the rathtar drew him back another foot, and Ben took off. He channeled the force into his feet, using it to propel him forward as he jumped up and slashed at one of the tentacles. The training blade sputtered and flickered but still got the job done as the beast roared and reared back. It dropped Finn in its pain, the other man scrambling past Ben to safety without looking back. 

He looked around, knowing the lightsaber wouldn't hold out much longer, and screamed, "Get back! Behind the door!"

"How will we close it?" Rey shrieked as they scrambled back, Finn grabbing her arm, "There's no switch-!"

She choked on her words when Ben flung a hand out, the solid metal creaking in forced movement right as the rathtar lumbered towards them. A few tentacles were sliced off, wriggling around on the floor separated from their body, and Rey and Finn just looked at him in shock.

"Jedi padawan..." Finn muttered, swallowing thickly, "Yeah, yeah, no, that checks out."

"We need to go." Ben said, grabbing them both and yanking them along, "I don't trust it to hold."

They traveled down the hallways of the ship, Ben sensing his father and using that to go off of. They eventually met up with him at the door of the hangar where the Millineum Falcon was, members of Kanjiklub firing at him and Chewie. The Wookie got hit, roaring in pain, and Ben stepped forward, swinging his blade in an arc. The blade sputtered once, twice, and went out with no grandeur. Ben looked at the thug in front of him and let out multiple curses, holding the thick metal handle like a club and swinging it across the man's had. He grabbed the man's blaster as he fell, pocketing his saber, and heard his father let out raucous peals of laughter. He aimed and fired, taking out the last few men, before turning to his father with an annoyed look.

"What's the code?" Rey nodded to the door, eyes flitting around anxiously.

Ben let out another shot, passing his father smoothly and hitting the keypad. The door short-circuited, opening and revealing the Falcon. 

"That's my boy." Han chuckled again, and Ben felt a warmth in his chest he never had before. His father was proud of him. There really was a first time for everything.

"You, help chewie." He pointed at Finn before turning to Ben and Rey, "You two, watch our backs."

They approached the ship, Finn lagging behind as he practically dragged the injured Wookie with him. Han began flipping switched, blinking in shock when his son filled the co-pilots seat.

"Um-?" Han blinked, "What are you doing?"

"Unkar Plutt installed a fuel pump too," Ben said without looking up, flipping switches in a practiced manner.

"Without priming that, we're not going anywhere." Rey at least spared Han a look as he sat in the pilot's chair.

"Kriff, I really hate that guy," Han muttered, starting to fire the ship up while glancing over at his son in half skepticism and awe.

He'd always wanted Ben to fly the Falcon. He never thought he'd see it happen until today.

"Watch the thrust-" Han began, being interrupted swiftly by his son.

"I know, I know, we're heading out at lightspeed." 

"From the hangar?" Rey's voice went up an octave behind them, "Is that even _possible_?"

"I never ask that question until I've done it," Han responded.

A rathtar chose that time to latch onto the ship, its great toothy mouth trying to bite through the captain's quarters as its tentacles lashed out around it.

"This is _not_ how I thought this day would go." The elder Solo muttered, "Angle the shield."

Ben did just that and Han turned to yell over his shoulder, "Hang on back there."

Rey scrambled for a passengers' seat behind them, buckling in, Finn yelling his okay as blaster fire began to rain on the ship.

"Come on baby, don't let me down..." Han said, looking around in confusion as the ship stalled, "What?"

"Compressor." Rey and Ben said simultaneously, Ben pointing at it in front of them.

"Oh."

The thrusters fired after it was turned off, the ship jerking out of the hangar with a boom as it knocked the rathtar off their front and sent them flinging into lightspeed.

Everyone took a second to breathe in the silence until a quiet alarm began to beep.

"The coolant's leaking," Han grunted.

"Try transferring auxiliary power to the secondary tank." Rey piped up from behind them, unbuckling herself and coming up behind the two men.

Han sent her a look over his shoulder, eyes drawn together before he flipped a few switches. Finn began yelling right about the same time a louder alarm began to blare.

"Kriffing hell, can nothing go right today?" Ben snarled, standing up, "Finn! Don't hurt Chewie!"

"Hurt him?" Finn screamed, incredulous, as Ben made his way back to the sitting area where the Wookie was getting an attempted patch up.

"Hurt him and you deal with me!" Han shouted back over the alarm.

"No clue what you two mean!" He screamed, "He's almost killed me six times!"

Han groaned, "If this hyperdrive blows we're gonna be scattered across three different systems."

Rey stood on a chair, wigging something around before yanking it out. The ship cooled and the alarm faded as the hyperdrive regulated itself.

Han stared at her, "What'd you do?"

"I bypassed the compressor." She smiled, giddy with herself.

"Huh."

They walked in on an amusing scene, admittedly, after fixing the potentiality of them getting blown to smithereens. Finn was nursing a few scratches on his arms while Ben stood in front of Chewie, arms crossed, his scowl a carbon copy of Leia's from what Han could see.

The Wookie roared but Ben just growled back, "I don't care. I'm putting on some bacta and bandaging it."

Chewie seemed to reluctantly consent, and Ben was finished up in under three minutes. 

Han raised his eyebrows, clapping Rey and Ben on the shoulders before walking past Finn. He sputtered after the man, but Rey just patted him on the back.

"Don't worry. We think you did great. Right, Berry?" Rey smiled smugly in the direction of her pseudo-brother.

"Rey." He snapped, then glanced at Finn, "And, uh, sure. You did great getting your ass handed to you by an injured Wookie."

"No, no!" Finn waved his hands around, "See I feel like that just made him more dangerous! I would appreciate some _appreciation_!"

The three collapsed around the table, exhaustion hitting as things began to calm. Finn's elbows bumped the switch and turned on holograms right as Han walked back into the room after making Chewie lay down to rest.

"Turn it off," Rey complained, rubbing her temples.

Finn groaned, "I don't even know how I turned it on!"

"Here." Ben reached, his hand getting knocked away as Finn began to poke around the table, "No, here. Here. Finn! Here!"

He finally snapped, grabbing Finn's hand and knocking it into the right button. Finn froze, looking at him with wide eyes as he felt his cheeks grow warm even if they didn't turn pink.

Rey giggled, and Finn just kept on dying on the inside.

Those two would be the death of him. In more ways than one, apparently.

Han observed them with a raised eyebrow, "So...fugitives. Ben, I'm so proud. Your mother, on the other hand."

Ben just sighed, glancing at the droid, "The First Order wants the map BB-8 has."

"Finn is with the Resistance." Rey piped up, not noticing Han and Ben sharing a doubtful look, "We're just scavengers. Well, I am, I guess. Ben's your son, so..."

"Well, let's see what you've got." The old pilot looked down at the droid, "Go on."

BB-8 chirped before displaying a large hologram, a huge piece of a map that was...missing a lot. 

"It's not complete." Ben said, frustration thick in his voice, "It's just a piece."

"Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him," Han said, looking closely at the map.

"Why did he leave?" Rey asked, noticing Ben tensing at her side and biting her cheek, regretting the question.

"I'm not really sure anymore, to be honest." Han said reluctantly, refusing to meet his son's eyes, "Some who know him best think he went looking for the first Jedi Temple, though. I know it sounds crazy; the force, the Jedi-"

"Not really." Finn interrupted, "Ben kinda wrecked a rathtar back there and saved my life. So..."

Rey nodded enthusiastically. 

Ben sighed, leaning back and throwing an arm across his face.

Han blinked, "Oh. Um, right."

They were all quiet until the terminal began to beep softly. Chewie growled from the doorway, but Han waved a hand, "No, you rest."

He turned to the rest of them, "You wanted my help, you're getting it. We're meeting a friend, she'll help get your droid home."

The falcon blasted out of hyperspeed to show a planet covered in blue and green.

"That's our stop." Han gestured, taking a seat and guiding the Falcon down into the planet's atmosphere.

"I haven't seen that much green in..." Ben breathed out as they began to soar in the clouds, valleys and rolling rivers rolling out underneath them before their eyes, "So long."

"I didn't even know there was that much green in the galaxy." Rey agreed.

They didn't see the sad look Han gave them from the pilot's seat, gripping the controls until his knuckles were white.

Rey immediately bolted for the door when they landed, eager for fresh air, and Ben followed suit not long after. BB-8 let out an aggressive series of beeps, rolling after them at top speed. Ben stepped off the landing ramp to see Rey spinning with her arms out wide, taking in the misty lake before them and nudging off her shoes to feel the damp grass between her toes.

"This is...paradise." She whispered, turning to look at Ben, "This mess with the First Order is obviously not ideal but...I'm glad we're off Jakku. I mean, look at this place!"

Ben nodded, "It reminds me of New Alderaan. My mother took me a few times to visit before I was sent away."

Rey glanced over at him, astonished, "That's the most you've ever said about your past."

"You know my dad is Han Solo, now. He was a war hero, married my mom, Leia Organa. They're kind of well-known, so why not?" He laughed mirthlessly, "With parents like that you can never outrun your past."

"Leia Organa? Like, the Princess?" Rey blinked, "Wasn't she royalty?"

"Before Alderaan was destroyed." He shrugged, "When they built New Alderaan from the ground up, she abolished the monarchy. Now they have an elected King or Queen that rotates every few years along with a parliament of senators, also elected. It was fashioned after Naboo, my grandmother's home planet."

"Naberrie...Your mother's family name is Organa and your father's Solo. Was that her name, your grandmother?" Rey asked gently, standing side by side with Ben as they looked out at the lake, "Naberrie?"

"Yeah." He smiled sadly, "It was. She was...amazing."

"Is she gone now?" Rey's brow furrowed.

Ben tilted his head, gazing up at the clouds, "I never actually met her. She died shortly after giving birth to my mother, who was the second born of twins. I grew up watching holos of her, though. She was elected Queen of Naboo and then after served as a senator for many years. She upheld democracy, and she was kind and strong. A bit sad, though I guess that's my asshole grandfather's fault."

"She sounds lovely." Rey glanced down, "I wonder if my grandmother was the same, or my mother, even. Kind and strong. I want to picture them like that, I suppose."

Ben wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into a one-sided hug, "If you came out anything like them, they must've been, Sunny."

"Ugh, I thought we'd let that nickname die." She groaned, ducking out of the hug.

"Not as long as you call me _Berry_ of all things." He rolled his eyes.

They heard footsteps behind them and saw Han walking towards them, Finn and Chewie not far behind. He held out two blasters, gesturing at them.

"Here." He said, shoving them in their hands.

"I can take care of myself." Rey laughed a bit, trying to hand it back.

"I know. That's why I'm giving it to you." Han shrugged, glancing over at Ben, "Obviously I taught you well, too, kid. You're an ace of a shot."

Ben flushed a bit, flushing pink in his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

Rey, in the meantime, practiced aiming with the sleek blasted, the weight perfectly balanced in her hands.

"You even know how to use that?" Han questioned, a bit of worry seeping into his tone. 

"Yeah, Ben showed me whenever we'd snag some from the Teedos." Rey suddenly burst out laughing, "Remember when that one knocked your face in after they found out? If you look close, his nose is crooked. That's why."

Han turned to him, slightly alarmed, and noticed that Ben's nose was, in fact, a bit crooked like it had been broken one too many times. 

"Shut it." Ben hissed, "Yes, she can use a blaster. Scary good with it, actually."

Han sighed, "Chewie, fix up the ship as best you can. You three, with me."

They approached the ancient castle, flags strung up all around a statue of what looked to be a species none of them could place. They heard loud music and merry noise from inside the large doors, and when the three hesitated Han was quick to reassure them. 

"Maz has run this cantina for years. If anyone can help, it's her." He said, beginning to head for the doors, "She's a bit of an acquired taste, though, so let me do the talking and don't stare."

"At what?" Finn and Rey said simultaneously, glancing at the door warily.

"Any of it."

With that, he unceremoniously walked through the automatic doors, leaving the three to stare at the strange selection of clientele in the cantina.

"This is going to be good." Ben sighed, following his father inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long I'm so sorry! Here's an extra-long chapter to make up for it! I've been on and off at the doctor's trying to figure out my meds because depression is truly a bitch and it's been really draining lately. But my mom and I are rewatching all the movies and it got me in the mood to write!!
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoyed this! Let me know any predictions or random things you liked this chapter in the comments below!


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